05-03 The USA

Watching President Trump through the eyes of the media reminds me of my show-off days as a ten-year old with my Yo Yo. Up and down, over the falls, around the world, and a half dozen other maneuvers all designed to impress my friends. Then the string on my Yo Yo would break. But the United States is not Donald Trump.
Instead it is an economy dominated by global giants that are continually innovating and changing in ways the public cannot possibly fathom. And it has a monster domestic economy where small innovative firms can expand into a dozen different markets without ever leaving the country.
The US is not the leader in the application of renewables. Cheap natural gas from fracking is part of the problem. But it will be the leader in taking innovations and applying them across the economy without massive subsidization.
And although every developed nation in the world is doing research on solar technologies, my bet is on the US to come up with the bulk of innovations that will sweep across the world. The secret? 70% of the US economy is driven by consumers.
I learned a lot during my quasi-political days from officials in the Federal Department of Industry. They continuously monitor research that was being done by the US Army and research at key universities like MIT and Stanford. The strategic importance of these institutions is that they are heavily linked to the private sector.
And today US Army research into new solar technologies is either done in partnership with US corporations or sold to US corporations. It is a way that the US subsidies its private sector.
The US is taking the lead in making solar panels more efficient. This kind of research will change the world making most application of fossil fuels uneconomical. And there are at least a hundred US corporations doing joint research with Israeli companies.
And as the technologies for transferring light to electricity becomes cheaper and smaller, the consumer applications explode.
And solar suddenly becomes not just the big business world of solar farms and utilities, but the small business world of roof installations, clothing and consumer products.
Like solar panels that blend into the colour and shape of the roof. Like solar that is woven into clothing. Like solar material built into sidewalks so we do not have to shovel snow.
And the Tesla battery technology is also ahead of the rest of the world. Solar storage is the critical factor for solar to become the dominant renewable technology. And the US is taking a lead on a whole range of solar storage technologies.
And the US is also talking the lead on solar tracking which enables on the ground panels to follow the sun.
Donald Trump says publicly that “global warming is a hoax”. Well having worked for four major oil companies in a former life, I can assure you that the oil and gas companies are investing heavily in wind and solar technologies.
Big business is good at working both sides of the street. Funding politicians to protect their interests and investing in technologies that can make their current interests obsolete. It’s called living in the present but thinking in the future.